Monday, January 11, 2010

SWAP sewing

I got moving with some SWAP sewing this weekend. First up was my sheath dress. This is a quick and easy sew for me. It's rayon boucle from Gorgeous Fabrics and is fully lined with a black poly/silk lining that I have a whole roll of so I use a lot. I'm actually wearing this today and I think I should have stabilised the neck a little, but I'll see how it wears. The fabric is so nice on the body. There's a jacket and skirt to come from the same fabric, but it's not part of my SWAP so they can wait till winter. Then I made this black linen blouse. I think the pattern is KS3668. I've made this a few times now. The great thing about this top is that the fabric cost me 50c at the op shop, the binding cost 20c and the buttons were in my stash and probably originally came from the op shop too. Even the thread was stash. I had a 1000m reel of black that I bought years ago. Apart from my time, this top has cost less than $1. But I still hate linen.Then I started on some more bloke sewing. Of course, Vera doesn't quite fill out this shirt in the same way that Grant does. This will be the matched print entry for his SWAP. Below you can see how I managed to keep the pattern even and correct across the front. I cut the yoke on the diagonal. The lines meet the back of the shirt in the same place on each side, though it's hard to tell from this picture.

The sleeve pattern is matched to the body at the front notch. The pattern also matches underneath each sleeve in a perfect chevron that DH says is his favourite bit and he intends to walk around with his arms in the air to show it off. I forgot to photograph that, but perhaps he will model the shirt in this pose for the official end of SWAP pics??I matched the front yoke patterns with the lines nearest the collar because I thought the eye would go there naturally.I'm really happy with this shirt and DH loves it. He admitted he didn't like the fabric when I showed it to him, but understood the SWAP concept and was happy to wear it because it matched everything. Last night he told me it's have new favourite shirt and he can't wait for winter so he can wear it. This from a man who would rather be naked!

Very nice men's shirt! Is that fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics? I almost got it to sew a shirt for my husband, but had a hard time visualizing whether it would produce a shirt he'd like. Your shirt looks fantastic!